Snapshots

What does 600 look like?

By Gordon BownessOct 24, 2007, 8:00 PM EDT

For 600 issues, that’s more than 23-years worth, Xtra has been here reporting, analyzing and cajoling the queers of Toronto and beyond. Here are five snapshots of the scrappy-little-paper-that-could, a look back at the marquee numbers that keep running at us full tilt every two weeks.

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ISSUE 0 (Preview; an insert in The Body Politic)Jan 27, 1984

COVER: Designed by Stephen Searle

SELECTED STORIES

– An obit for Peter Evans, the 28-year-old Ottawan who died of AIDS earlier that month: “The only Canadian AIDS patient willing and able to go public.”

– “1954 domestic compact in good mechanical condition wishes to share double garage before rust sets in. Tastefully equipped with FM-band, cruise control, sporty engine, attractive, original blond finish and bright interior. Country and city driven with a preference for urban parking facilities. No ashtray; no spare tire. Wheel alignment a little left of centre. Adjacent parking spot reserved for companion model of 1940s to 1950s vintage. Photo can set wheels in motion.”

BEYOND

– Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau retires, replaced by John Turner as Liberal leader who’s then defeated by Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservatives

– Feds introduce a draconian porn bill based in part on the Fraser report

– David Peterson Liberal premier of Ontario; Eggleton still mayor

– Ben Johnson stripped of his sprinting gold medal for steroid use

– AIDS deaths in Canada: 622

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200Jun 26, 1992

COVER: Garry Rubenstein’s shot from 1991’s Lesbian and Gay Pride Day

SELECTED STORIES

– A photo of Sky Gilbert as Jane trying to give a Gina Award for the individual who hurt the arts the most to Bob Mathews of the Toronto police’s Project P (responsible for busts on Glad Day Bookshop in 1981 and ’92)

– After repeated refusals by her predecessor Eggleton, Mayor June Rowlands proclaims Pride Week in Toronto for the first time

– Listings: Derek Jarman’s Edward II; Steve Reinke’s 100 Videos (The First 12); the launch of The Living Guide by the AIDS Committee of Toronto; OutSpoken VII with writers June Callwood, Tomson Highway, Andrew Patterson, David Roche, Libby Scheier and more at Buddies; The Lavinia Show at Buddies starring David Walberg; Hudson’s opening at 619 Yonge St with the band Betty; Rusty Ryan in Driving to Tatamagouche by Jeffrey Round at the Poor Alex and Kiss of the Spider Woman at the St Lawrence Centre

CLASSIFIEDS

– “I’m not very good at writing a jingle but here I am single. The only thing I like are women and the only thing I hate are squirrels. If you’re 25 to 30, have independence and drive and are not thrilled with the bar scene, I’m interested in meeting you.”

-l The Supreme Court releases the Butler decision that uses the vague notion of community standards of harm to define obscenity; first police action based on the decision is against Glad Day Bookshop for sale of the lesbian sex magazine Bad Attitude

– Michelle Douglas wins a settlement with the Canadian Armed Forces over her 1988 dismissal; a Charter ruling requires the forces to allow gay and lesbian personnel

– The Blue Jays win their first World Series

– North American Free Trade Agreement is signed

– An Alberta court rules that sexual orientation must be read into human rights legislation following Delwin Vriend’s lawsuit against the Alberta Human Rights Commission; repeated appeals aren’t settled until 1998 when the Supreme Court rules in Vriend’s favour

– First combination therapies (the cocktail) for AIDS introduced

– AIDS deaths in Canada: 1,292

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300Apr 25, 1996

COVER: Wayson Choy, author of The Jade Peony, part of the opening night gala at Asian Heritage Festival

SELECTED STORIES

– Allegations that the Ontario Human Rights Commission is dumping complaints of antigay discrimination to deal with backlog

– Queer prostitutes

– Aftermath of the February police raid on Remmington’s strip club

– Fed cuts mean the death of women’s Studio D at the NFB

– Listings: the Kids in the Hall’s “brain dead” first film Brain Candy; Elvira Kurt at the Rivoli; Shag-on-Sunday lesbian night on Dundas St W; a tribute to all things Norma at Gatsby’s; Ani DiFranco at Music Hall

– Feds required to extend employee benefits to same-sex partners; the Human Rights Act is amended to include sexual orientation as grounds for protection from discrimination

– The XI International AIDS conference held in Vancouver

– AIDS deaths in Canada: 1,065

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400Feb 24, 2000

COVER: Gérald Michaud of the Danny Grossman Dance Company

SELECTED STORIES

– Criticism over the feds’ proposed payment of survivor benefits to same-sex spouses: “I’m sure that if they excluded blacks, Jews or First Nations people from CPP they’d save money, but I certainly wouldn’t nor would someone else ever suggest they should do that,” says lawyer Douglas Elliot

– A Quebec mother, HIV-positive for 14 years, is stripped of custody after refusing to give AIDS drugs to her HIV-positive kids

– African, Latin and First Nations performance and poetry slam Church Street and Dahomey II

– Provincial auditor claims the ministry responsible for inspecting video outlets is out of control in targeting gay porn

– MP Scott Brison bolts from the new Conservative party to become the Liberals’ first out MP

– John Miller’s look back at 15 years of love and sex in the time of AIDS

– The feds are forced to make pension benefits for same-sex partners retroactive to 1985 (when the Charter came into being)

– Listings: Mother Gin-Sling’s House of Worship group art show at Zsa Zsa; TV broadcast of The Closet starring Gerrard Depardieu “one of the worst films of 2001;” Honey Dijon spins at Boa

CLASSIFIEDS

– “It’s Patrick, 5’9″, 160lb, big lips, nice lean body, very hot and versatile. I’m looking for guys who want to get together with another guy or another girl and getting into some body worship. I like jocks, but I also love crossdressers, confident Bay St boys, professionals and pretty boys, too. I’m very hot and I’m looking for that kind of scene, very confidential and sexy.”

– The Ontario Appeals Court rules the federal definition of marriage contravenes the Charter; the province becomes the first jurisdiction in North America to recognize same-sex marriage; the feds don’t appeal the Ontario ruling, indicating that it will change the definition of marriage